NBA Commissioner Adam Silver yesterday said bringing the '19 All-Star Game to Charlotte is a "high priority" after the city and the Hornets lost the game scheduled for '17 due to the controversial HB2, according to Bonnell & Peralta of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. However, if the bill does not change, Silver said that the ASG "won’t be here." He said, "Our owners and teams are based all over the country in red states and blue states and purple states. It was a strongly-held view that HB2 was inconsistent with the values of this league.” Silver "declined to say specifically what would have to change about HB2 for the NBA to follow through on its intent to host" the '19 All-Star Weekend in Charlotte. Silver: "The issues that we are primarily focused on are acceptance and inclusiveness. I think it’s a misnomer to call HB2 ‘the bathroom bill.'" He said that there is "no deadline for giving final approval" to Charlotte. Silver was in town for the Hornets’ "unveiling of a renovated outdoor basketball court" near Uptown Charlotte (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/19). Silver said, "I’m better off speaking in terms of broad themes. And those broad themes directly address inclusiveness." SportsCorp President Marc Ganis said, "As much as I’ve known that these kinds of (progressive) values are admirably part of the NBA’s DNA, it’s not lost on anybody the distinction of the activities being done in China and yet you wouldn’t play in North Carolina.” But Silver said that he had "just returned from China and dismissed the idea of a direct comparison with North Carolina." Silver: “I can’t believe that the people of North Carolina, they want the bar to be where they rank in terms of China on human rights” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/18).
